


Walks Alone

by Scared_Beings_in_the_Dark



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Future Fic, Gen, No Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-18
Updated: 2014-06-18
Packaged: 2018-09-11 08:26:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8971804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scared_Beings_in_the_Dark/pseuds/Scared_Beings_in_the_Dark
Summary: Rafael Barba was handpicked by the best because he is the best. This is a snippet of his relationships with Rita Calhoun and Ben Cohen. May appear OOC at first glance. No spoilers for the series.





	

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This is just a little something I thought up when I examined Barba's obvious history with Calhoun and Cohen. The last bit is intentionally vague as it hints at another idea I had but haven't had time to formulate fully.
> 
> (Original author’s note that appeared on post)

ooOoo

 

Ben Cohen immediately takes him under his wing when he finds out Rafael scored top in his grade and third out of six hundred participants.

 

Likewise, Rita Calhoun courts him for the ADA's office.

 

Rafael tells them both thank you, but he wants a little time to think about it.

 

By the time he tells his mother, and been reprimanded for not scoring first, Cohen's offer has expired, but the man is still willing to teach him some tricks to bulldoze the laws into behaving.

 

Calhoun accepts his biweekly meetings with Cohen as long as he manages to sit second chair on her criminal cases.

 

It's his note-taking, he's certain, until one day, almost two years into his tenure with her, she turns him out in front of the jury, and he has to make her opening statement.

 

His palms sweat, he's nauseous, and he can't breathe right, but he manages to keep his voice from wavering.

 

When he sits down, lightheaded and dizzier than all hell, Calhoun leans over and says, "Coulda been better."

 

It's all she says to him the rest of the trial, but she keeps poking him with her pen when she wants him to argue a point.

 

He doesn't miss anything, even the things she shows him, but they still lose the case.

 

He's disappointed and upset and Calhoun's "Coulda been better" keeps looping through his mind.

 

Cohen refuses to associate with him further than case law books and a pat on the shoulder every two weeks, but Calhoun takes a better interest in him. She actively sits him down, with the same damn books, and forces him to read every law in New York.

 

The next time she has him sit in first chair while she watches from second chair. She doesn't touch him or talk to him the entire trial. Although he's almost more nervous this time around, he wins the case.

 

It's anticlimactic, he feels. But, Calhoun buys him a drink and tells him he'll do okay.

 

The next time they see each other, she works for the defense, and Rafael wins his case. He buys her a drink, and she again tells him he's doing fine.

 

"I know I am," he says, "but—" and there will always be a 'but'—"I still think I'm missing the point."

 

"Figure out where you're going, kiddo," she says. "Then, when you're ready, you'll know the point."

 

Eight years later, the point isn't to become the district attorney or even to be the mayor of New York City or the governor of New York State; the point is to get through a night of restless sleep to face more victims who need justice. The point has become to survive without being damaged. And Rafael knows he's losing.

 

He knows it by the way he drinks too much coffee and scotch and the way he can't keep his heart from hurting when he preps the victims.

 

His path keeps crossing with Cohen and Calhoun, but they're not close anymore, and he knows they see him as an enemy.

 

Three years of being an SVU lawyer, Rafael chooses Calhoun when the police come looking for him.

 

Cohen sits in the courtroom every day, and Calhoun refuses to ask him about anything. Still, Rafael walks.

 

At the end of the day, he walks alone.

 

ooOoo

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for taking the time to read this little story. And, thank you to everyone who has favorited, alerted, followed, or reviewed any of my stories. I greatly appreciate you.
> 
> (Original author’s note that appeared on post)
> 
> This was briefly edited to fix grammatical errors. Nothing in the way of the story was changed.
> 
> Link to original post: [Walks Alone](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10462656/1/Walks-Alone)
> 
> Originally posted under WalkingDictionary, moved to Scared_Beings_in_the_Dark


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